Of course much of the talk here focuses on the new Star Trek movies, but we here at TrekMovie never forget that Trek was born (and can be argued, was at its best) on television. Over the last few years many have talked about a desire to bring Trek back to TV, and now its being reported that two of these Hollywood hotshots (both named Bryan) are thinking of teaming up.

TrekMovie has previously reported that both Bryan Singer (director of X-Men, Valkyrie, producer for House) and Bryan Fuller (writer for Star Trek Voyager, creator of Pushing Daisies, Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me) have both (separately) shown interest in bringing Star Trek back to the small screen. As it happens the two fans of Star Trek are working together on areboot of The Munsters (now titled Mockingbird Lane) for NBC.

And now AICN is reporting that the two have "discussed the possibility of pooling their resources to take a new corner of Gene Roddenberry’s multiverse to the small screen."

It is interesting to learn that the two are now thinking about Star Trek together. That being said, it appears that there are currently no plans at CBS to bring Star Trek back to TV in the short term. Indications are that such a project would not even be considered until after the release of two Star Trek films from JJ Abrams, if not three.

The previously reported approaches for the two regarding Star Trek have been very different. In 2005 and early 2006, Singer was involved in a plan to pitch CBS & Paramount on a new show set in the year 3000 with a Federation in turmoil trying to return to the glory days (see TrekMovie exclusive details on "Star Trek Federation"). That plan was shelved before pitching to CBS once it was announced in 2006 that JJ Abrams would be making a new Star Trek feature. Also, in 2007 Singer told TrekMovie that his schedule really didn’t have room for a Star Trek TV show. Fuller has also spoken a few times about his desire to return to the world of Star Trek on TV. A couple of years back TrekMovie spoke to Bryan Fuller about his idea for a show, which he envisioned would be set in the new movie universe, but not on board the USS Enterprise.

There are a lot of challenges for bringing Star Trek back to television. Genre shows have always struggled on network TV. In addition, a space-based sci-fi series is a costly endeavor. This cost issue is what has kept LucasFilm from moving forward on plans for a live-action Star Wars TV series (recently revealed to be titled Star Wars: Underworld), although they hope to be able to make it work sometime this decade. And then there are the multiple parties involved, with CBS owning Star Trek on TV, but Paramount owning assets and rights related to the new Star Trek films (which would be needed if a series was set in that universe).

With such an expensive, complicated and potentially risky endeavor, it is certain that CBS would want some big name creative talents behind the show like Singer and Fuller, so that could only help to make it happen.

Bryan Fuller at Comic-Con – could be teaming up with Singer for Star Trek pitch

I want my Trek TV

I have often said that television is where Star Trek is at its best, and so I am hopeful this project grows into something. And there are others in Hollywood who would be interested in bringing Star Trek back to TV, including former Star Trek: Enterprise runner Manny Coto (currently working on Dexter). However, with the new movies going at Paramount, I know that Trek on TV will likely have to wait. One caveat to that, is an animated series. I think, like with Star Wars: The Clone Wars, such a show could be used to tie in with the new movies and tell stories between films (not unlike the new Star Trek ongoing comic books). Star Trek co-writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have talked about such a project, but there has been no real talks so far to make it happen.

TrekMovie will continue to monitor this and anything related to Star Trek returning to TV.

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Steve-o

I’m in. i think after watching my fill of netflix star trek i am ready for new episodes. i prefer it take place in the tng/ds9/voy era. may 8 years after nemesis happened. no new universe

February 3, 2012 2:26 pm

KHAN 2.0

after Trek 3 then yeah id like a new series – Trek 3 out 2014 or 2015 then a new tv show around 2016 (50th anniversary!)

surely tv SFX will be near movie quality in the next 5 years

February 3, 2012 2:27 pm

Boom Boom

Steve-o…I am in too. But I am a serious original series fan. I would dig a series with the orginal crew, but modernized.

February 3, 2012 2:29 pm

Boom Boom

Steve-O, when is your next movie coming out?

February 3, 2012 2:29 pm

Enterprisingguy

I’d be willing to see what they could come up with!

February 3, 2012 2:30 pm

Orb of the Emissary

They’ve both have had interesting ideas for a new TV show, which I’ve found fascinating. I’m sure the two of them can come up with an exciting Star Trek TV show, regardless of era and universe (although I wouldn’t mind a return to TNG-era, post-Nemesis, prime universe…)!!

February 3, 2012 2:30 pm

KHAN 2.0

@1 i think Prime trek is pretty well covered with 5 tv shows and 10 movies

and no more TNG era (unless its the TNG era of the alternate universe) – heh maybe they could reboot TNG

February 3, 2012 2:31 pm

Vultan

Whatever happened to syndicated sci-fi/fantasy shows? They used to be a staple of Saturday nights on local TV in the ’90s.

February 3, 2012 2:33 pm

Commodore Mike of the Terran Empire

I would be all in for it. I hope these guy’s can make it so.

February 3, 2012 2:33 pm

Steve-o

what about a tng era, that takes place in the new universe?! i just got tired of hearing people bitch about prequel continuity with ENterprise. lol

February 3, 2012 2:35 pm

njdss4

*gets really excited*

“such a project would not even be considered until after at the release of two Star Trek films from JJ Abrams, if not three. ”

*totally let down*

I guess it’s better than nothing, but saying a new Trek TV *might* be considered in 4 or 5 years doesn’t really mean much. I can only hope that the 50th Anniversary inspires people to get Trek back on TV.

February 3, 2012 2:35 pm

Commodore Adams

@ 6. Orb of the Emissary. AGREED!

I would prefer a show which takes place in the original universe but after the Voyager/Nemesis era. There is no need to use the alternate universe for the cool effects and great action if that were the case. Moving into the future past Voyager would offer the opportunity to bring in new technologies and advancements which would make it very cool in itself.

I am hoping it will not take as long as the 3rd new movie to get a TV series up and running. It would be nice if they were released in tandem simply because of the hype and new fans which the 2009 movie brought in. The 2009 movie had a great turnout for a trek movie, it appealed not only to trek fans but fans of sci fi and action movies. There are people I know who were not fans of Star Trek and are already looking forward to the next movie. If the next movie is a huge success then it will turn even more people over and the anticipation of the 3rd movie AND a new TV series would simply solidify those new found fans and please the long time Trek fans.

February 3, 2012 2:46 pm

Royal Canadian Institute for the Mentally Insane

#2

If the next Trek film is coming in 2013, don’t count on Trek 3 (per se) until about 2016 or so.

February 3, 2012 2:47 pm

Jonathan

I’m fine with anything. just want new trek on tv

February 3, 2012 2:50 pm

Royal Canadian Institute for the Mentally Insane

You know what I’d honestly like to see “converted” for series TV? StarBlazers, aka Space Battleship Yamato. It’s got the right storyline for a great series if redone a la the re-imagined Galactica series. A long story thread, lots of human drama, potential for battle and effects, etc.

I saw the movie not long ago — got the Blu-Ray; well worth seeing but seemed rushed because it was a season’s worth of show crammed into a 2 hour movie.

Let’s face it, Trek NEEDS to be on TV. There is simply no way you can have the kind of character sketch pieces Trek is known for during a 2 hour movie. Trek is in the characters, the details. Even if this effort falls through, I hope we’ll see the Enterprise on our home screens soon.

Definitely TNG era, post Nemesis. Hands down. There’s so much more story to tell there.

February 3, 2012 2:55 pm

Phil

Star Wars: Underworld will be the litmus test. If that is successful CBS will jump all over getting Trek back on the small screen. Until then, don’t hold your breath…..

February 3, 2012 3:00 pm

Dom

A future incarnation of the new universe by necessity limits the earlier adventures. How could Vulcan be hypothetically destroyed in Star Trek V for example if it’s still about in TNG? The point of Paramount’s new universe is to blast that convoluted history away!

Quite honestly, if CBS tries to muscle in on Paramount’s nascent revived franchise it’ll be lawyers at dawn!

I’d love to see another Star Trek series, but I think it is hugely unlikely. Trek only returned to television in 1987 because of the untapped potential of the syndication market, where Paramount saw a way to make a profit on what would be an unquestionably expensive show outside of the restrictive network environment. That market is today all but gone, the void filled by cable networks like USA, FX, and TNT, but due to market fragmentation none of those networks have anywhere near the capital or audiences to justify a new first-run Star Trek series. Only the big networks (and even then, probably only Fox and CBS) really have the resources to try. But CBS has no need for an expensive risk like Star Trek Series 6, and they’re unlikely to hand the franchise to a competitor (ABC’s and NBC’s repeated failures in genre television make them unlikely to be interested, anyway.) Another possibility would be HBO, Starz or Showtime, but that would introduce a whole bunch of problems in reaching Star Trek’s intended audience. I just don’t see it happening, sad to say.

February 3, 2012 3:13 pm

MC

Definitely the original universe, post-Nemesis. Actually, they’d never do it but I’d love if they pretended Nemesis didn’t happen. Or the events of Trek09. Just set it 10 years after Nemesis would’ve occurred.

February 3, 2012 3:15 pm

Of Bajor

As much as I would love to see a continuation of Prime DS9, I think a new TV Trek would be far more succesful if it piggybacked on the back of the success of the new movies and was set in that universe. Otherwise the non die hards might switch off to it.

February 3, 2012 3:16 pm

Mike B.

I think Trek can excel on the small screen as long as the right people are behind it (Duh!)….and I see no reason why it can’t be done at the same time as the movies.

February 3, 2012 3:20 pm

jesustrek

Prime Unvierse ;) and link with tne Movies 2009-2013

February 3, 2012 3:26 pm

kmart

Always thought that the post TUC era was the ripest for exploration. Still have a frontier aspect, not all magic-box replicator tech, and also you have plenty of intrigue going on at the end of century 23. Plus you have the whole Harriman scenario, earning the Enterprise name back to where it was before he lost Kirk.

February 3, 2012 3:30 pm

NCM

I found the categories confusing. I voted Prime U, but by that I meant TOS’–missing years or some such. I’d be just as happy with JJ-verse. I loved Picard and Data, liked Janeway and the doc., but the best of Trek, for me, is Kirk, Spock, McCoy.

It’d be worth waiting several years to get a good new Trek series on TV.

I’m curious as to why the costs must be such an obstacle. Has Battlestar Galactica not been a success? –BSG gives the viewer more to chew on in one show than TOS offered in a season, but much as I enjoy it, and like several of the characters, none of the characters or their relationships resonate for me as my favorite threesome have.

February 3, 2012 3:32 pm

Holo J

I’d like to see the fall out of the destruction of Romulus in the prime universe. Maybe set it 10 or 20 years later. That way you could have guess stars from TNG, DS9 and Voyager pop up from time to time.

February 3, 2012 3:33 pm

Khan was Framed!

I would like to see either one of the following if this actually ever goes forward:

-An animated anthology series featuring stories from across the Trek universe. Prime, mirror, reboot universes all included in various mini-series style story arcs. An “Enterprise” Romulan War mini-series, followed by a “Titan” one, followed by a “DS9” story, followed by a “Kelvin” one, etc. A great way to use the voice talent pool of former casts, as well as cover up for their present ages.

-A live action series set either on the Kelvin or on the Enterprise C. I think a story that is eventually leading to the doom of the ship which we all know is coming would make for some very imaginative story telling & give fans more history for a ship & crew that has peaked our interest in the past.

But regardless of mine or any fan’s idea of what a new Trek series should be, all I really want is new Star Trek on my TV every week.

The drought has been long & painful for all of us.

February 3, 2012 3:38 pm

captain_neill

Prime Universe all the way, its my preferred universe and will always be my Trek.

February 3, 2012 3:41 pm

Craiger

I wish we could get some soft of confirmation from CBS that they wont do a new Trek TV Series until after the second or third movie? Does anyone know if the movies will end at number 3 or go beyond that? I think splitting up Paramount into two separate divisions was a mistake. It’s too confusing. I think they they would be able to talk to each other better as one. Especially with Trek. I wonder if now CBS has to wait to get permission from Paramount to greenlight a new Trek TV series?

February 3, 2012 3:41 pm

The Chad

Trek was on TV for 18 years straight from when I was 12 until I was 30. I grew up on Trek and had gotten used to it always being on. Now I watch it on Netflix and have watched the entire series’ of Voyager, DS9, and working through Enterprise now. After 7 years I’m ready for another series.

BUT….I do not want it in the new movie universe. We live in an age of too many remakes/rehashes and I’m all about doing something fresh and new….IN the prime universe, which is the universe I’ve grown to love in the past 2 decades.

I don’t think you have to do TOO far into the future. In fact, you can successfully blend the two franchises together by developing a story about how the Federation has to help pick up the pieces of a devastated Romulan Empire post destruction of Romulus where there is now a fundamental shift in power in the quadrant (a term used so many times in the shows) and how that shift plays out. Possibly the Kilingons agressively take advantage. Oh wait….isn’t this the storyline of ST:O? hahah….perhaps they are on to something!

February 3, 2012 3:47 pm

Craiger

Also I know this article says Orci and Kurtzman were interested in an animated Trek TV series but what about Orci and Kurtzman for a live action Trek TV series?

February 3, 2012 3:48 pm

AJ

Anthony:

You wrote: “One caveat to that, is an animated series…”

A caveat is a warning, such as the phrase ‘Caveat Emptor,’ or ‘Buyer Beware.’

Your sentence implies Paramount/CBS should steer clear of a new animated series, whereas the rest of the paragraph says otherwise.

You could say “One thing they could consider is an animated series” assuming that was your point.

Here endeth the lesson.

February 3, 2012 3:57 pm

Robofuzz

Really – I don’t want anything else “reenvisioned” or “reimagined” or “rebooted”. And I certainly don’t want ANOTHER series set in the TNG/DS9/VOY era. Something running parallel to TOS or the original cast movies might be cool. I mean – Starfleet is only one portion of the Federation. What about all those colonists that kept getting wiped out by the alien probe of the week? Does the Federation have a spy organization like the CIA? Might be interesting to explore some of those stories. And maybe it should be a something with a season-long story arc instead of so episodic.

February 3, 2012 4:00 pm

Ahmed Abdo

I hope that something will come out of this new plan. Over the past years, many people came forward with their own ideas on how to bring Star Trek back.

J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5, put forward his idea in this 14 pages outline in cooperation with Bryce Zabel, creator of Dark Skies, back in 2004

What I liked most in this outline the idea of placing a “mystery at the very core of the Star Trek universe”. To not just have your usual mission of the week, but an outreach plot throughout the series.

In any case, I hope someone at CBS will make the call soon & not wait until the second or third movie are out.

The lack of a space based TV series, should make it easier to greenlit a new Star Trek series in the prime universe now.

February 3, 2012 4:07 pm

Masshuu il Malacandra

No children, no robots (androids, rock beings, etc.) More realistic uniforms and fleets of ships.

February 3, 2012 4:08 pm

T'Cal

I’d prefer the 24th century (TNG post NEM/DS9/VOY era) and wouldn’t even mind an animated series set whenever, but I will leave the ideas up to these two guys. Making it in a different era (not necessarily a different universe, timeline, whatever) than the current movie franchise would make it possible to run them at the same time. This is important to me because as everyone here knows JJA is slooooow at bring out his Trek films. TNG/DS9/VOY each had an ensemble cast that works much better on TV than in the movies. Let JJA and Co. handle the films and the Two Bryans handle the TV end of it. I would actually prefer an annual Trek miniseries.

February 3, 2012 4:13 pm

MONGO

Mongo think Star Trek on TV good. Mongo think that should be like TNG was to TOS.

Take place in Prime Universe. Take place 80-100 year after bad nemesis movie. Take place on Enterprise ship.

New crew new adventure. Focus on explore. Maybe whole rest of galaxy. Maybe start to explore outside galaxy. Maybe explore different universe or dimension. But make show be place to show what it mean to be human.

Even if some character not human.

February 3, 2012 4:18 pm

Dee - lvs moon' surface

#26… Yeah!… ;-) :-)

February 3, 2012 4:19 pm

USS Reserved Personality

I’d like to see a series set in the Prime Universe, but to freshen it up a little, set it a few years after the TNG era. I notice that people liked the last film because it freshened up the franchise. Well back in ’87 TNG did the same thing. It worked, why not do it again. Perhaps 70 years, which would allow for a few cameos by certian characters (Vulcans and other long lived species for example. Geordie copying Scottys transporter buffer trick might be pushing it). That said any era would be great, if it were set in the new timeline I’d probably sulk for a while but I’d still watch. Most importantly is that any new series it written and cast well and in the spirit of star trek (ok bag
of worms because every person has their own idea of what that spirit is!j

February 3, 2012 4:19 pm

crazydaystrom

Which universe? Don’t care. As long as its intelligent, exciting and (at least a tad) provocative, I’m there. And after what Fuller delivered with the exquisite PUSHING DAISIES his return to Trek is something I’d absolutely love to see!

Decades of Trek now and more to come!!

As the song goes-
‘There before and now once more I’m bouncing around the room!’ ;-)

February 3, 2012 4:25 pm

Lt. Bailey

If its true, its the best damn news I have heard in a long time.

February 3, 2012 4:26 pm

The Chad

#22

I believe Battlestar was considered pretty successful on Syfy, even if it only ran 4 seasons. It had Ron Moore at the helm……woah….could you imagine him teaming up with the 2 Bryans? That would be one heck of a show!

#27

I think if you tried to go into a “past” era between ST6 and ST7, you’d run into all the continuity issues and complaints you had with Enterprise. You become too confined in your story telling because you have to make sure you not only need to conform to past events, but future events as well. I say post everything, so that you can open up the storytelling and not worry how it ties to future events.

February 3, 2012 4:32 pm

crazydaystrom

If memory serves, it wasn’t so long ago that Bryan Fuller announced his desire to return to Trek and that he had an idea for a series. I wonder if this potential series is that idea.

In any case I want them to start tomorrow. You know, after a good night’s sleep.

February 3, 2012 4:33 pm

TyrannicalFascist

I agree with #42.

Prime universe, set after TNG. In essence, a NEXT Next Generation. I’d say maybe 40-50 years, which would still allow plenty of time for change, and allow cameos from TNG/DS9/VOY cast if wanted (of course ENT cast could appear via holograms/recordings as well, like Cochrane in Broken Bow).

The tricky question is how to make the series unique. TOS was the original, TNG jumped ahead in time to a new era, DS9 set the story primarily on a station, VOY showed a journey home in the depths of the unknown, and ENT showed the origins of Star Trek connecting it to our near future. A new series would need to have some kind of quality that makes it worthy of our attention and not just a retread of the past (much like seasons 1 & 2 of TNG mostly retreaded TOS concepts, and seasons 1 & 2 of ENT retreaded TOS and TNG too much).

February 3, 2012 4:33 pm

crazydaystrom

Oh I see Fuller’s Trek wish is mentioned in the article. How did I miss that?

February 3, 2012 4:36 pm

Richard Daystrom

I’ve said it before and I will say it again: MANNY COTO…. Star Trek is at it’s best on TV. ST movies tend to revolve around a bad guy. The TV show (TOS) made you think. No technobabble, just pretty straight forward story telling. Bring it on!

February 3, 2012 4:37 pm

AJ

Most fans believe the best iterations of TREK do not require fleets of ships and space battles/jaw-dropping planetscapes, but good characters and storytelling.

It’s easy to get caught up in space-battles. They take up time, for one, and enhance good stories when well-executed. I prefer a good battle of wits across the viewscreen, though, to just shots of ‘splosions in space.